Desire; Short Essay.doc

The progress Second Wave feminism achieved for the status and rights of women in
communities across the developed world are unparalleled. However the dialogue of women's
rights and equality seems to be changing not to continued progress but rather the question of do
we, and if so why, still need feminism? The answer is its simplest form, is yes, we do still need
feminism and for a variety of reasons. Thus, as we enter into the generation of what is now being
called Third Wave feminism, scholars and everyday women are beginning to answer the question
of what does it mean to be a women internally rather than in the context of the community more
so than the dialogue has even suggested before. This short essay will use Jessica Valenti's book
Full Frontal Feminsim and Budgeon's article Introduction: Defining the Third Wave to highlight
the important reasons why Third Wave feminism need be as strong as ever and will do so by
discussing the role that the Third Wave must play in female views on masturbation, sexual self
image and experience and sex education to show that when it comes to female sexuality and the
relationship each women has with not only her body but with her mind as well.
To begin, masturbation has strangely been a taboo topic amongst women forever. Jessica Valenti
in her article on female sexuality states that "women don't really talk about masturbating ... but
we chat about sexual positions and blow jobs as easily as we discussed our last math class"
(Valenti 37). What does this say about how females are viewing their own sexuality, is it our
suppression of our female desires and needs to protect the image that we are 'pure'? Or is it the
conception that masturbation is dirty, primitive or worse? Third Wave feminism is necessary for
the promotion of women's sexuality especially in relation to masturbation, if it is an acceptable
assumption that men masturbate without stigma, that conception should be equally applied to
women in promotion of their sexuality and desires. Masturbation is a natural part of human
sexuality and the sexual experience therefore, as Valenti suggests as well, masturbation "should
be the most talked about sex" (Valenti 37). For practical reasons, you can't break your own heart,
so it seems that masturbation provides sexual pleasure for pleasure's sake, and I am of of the
opinion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Thus, Third Wave feminism is still
important today especially in the promotion of female sexuality, and is necessary to help de-
stigmatize and progress the importance and healthiness of masturbation for women.
Another important aspect of female sexuality that requires the continued effort of feminist
empowerment in the Third Wave is actual sexual experiences. Most women count their sexual
partners, as to suggest the higher the number the less valuable she becomes, and shave their
bodies to look like Vin Diesels head, and for what purpose? I struggle to find the sense in doing
something we all find so unenjoyable and yet illogically women continue to count and shave to
satiate our partners in the tireless quest for a great sex-life. Valenti suggests that even though we
as women continue to count sexual partners and prize our virginity we do so in a way that makes
it so seem that our "sexuality doesn't belong to us"(Valenti 25). This is a prime example of why
women in the Third Wave much continue to work to end these archaic practices and progress
forward into a time of female sexuality where we begin to view and value our sexual importance
in spite of what our partners want or expect from us. This new generation of feminism has
spawned a momentum of individual free choice in many aspects of life, however the topic of
women's sexuality seems to be continually debilitated by lack of conversation and fear of choice,
especially in decisions pertaining to the increase in a woman's sexual partners (Budgeon 4-5). It
seemingly stems from a fear of social degradation by judgmental words like slut or, as mentioned
earlier, a decrease in value based on an increased number of sexual parters; which contrastingly works the complete opposite for men, ironic? I think not. However in order to change women's
perceptions of themselves, wom